Sunday, December 30, 2012

Well, the Mayan calendar came to its end and we are still
here, safe and sound.No end of the
world, despite the dire predictions.

That’s a good thing, as we’ve enjoyed looking back through a
memorable 2012.Here are just a few of
the highlights:

We hosted four historical tours for Valor Tours of San
Francisco, California.Among them were six
POW veterans; four who were captured on Corregidor, one who was on the Bataan
Death March, and another who was captured in Davao, all in 1942. We also hosted
three veterans who participated in the retaking of the Philippines in 1944-45.Given their ages, we don’t expect to ever
again see this many returning veterans in any given year.The tour groups also included many
descendants of WW II veterans, a group of students and staff from the College
of the Ozarks, and a number of history buffs.

In April, Steve’s book about his father was published.In May, we were blessed with our seventh
grandchild, and Steve turned 60 years old.We spent July and August in the States, highlighted by lots of time (R&R
for us after the four tours) with Steve’s mother in Virginia, Minnesota, the
wedding of our only Kwiecinski-side-of-the-family niece in Minneapolis, and much-enjoyed
visits with family and friends in Minnesota and Michigan.

The children of the Corregidor employees were treated to
three Christmas parties this year.As we
have written in the past, Lynn Lafever has been the island’s Santa Claus for
many years.This year he and his family were
unable to travel to the island, but instead sent money to be used to purchase
presents.The gifts were passed out at
MacArthur Café last Friday afternoon.

Also, one of the men of the island took it upon himself to organize
a party on Christmas Eve.Derek provided
spaghetti and pork kabobs, and invited us to come and partake.He also had planned a number of games for the
children, most of which we had never seen before.One game was sort of like musical chairs, but
instead of chairs pairs of kids had to walk around a piece of newspaper until
the music stopped, then jump onto the paper.What made it especially entertaining was that only one pair of the kids
understood what to do, though participants and observers alike had fun.Another game seemed to be an elimination game
like “Simon Says,” but we really couldn’t fully understand what was happening,
and the children were so quick that the ‘game-master’ wasn’t able to eliminate
players.A very challenging game
involved tilting one’s face up, placing a 1-peso coin on the forehead, and then
trying to wiggle the coin from forehead to chin – either over or around the
nose – without letting the coin drop to the floor.No winner, lots of laughter!

Another game involved seeing who could drink a bottle of Cola
the most quickly through a straw.What
made it more challenging was that each player had a second straw which hung outside
the bottle, meaning that straw mostly pulled air.Perhaps the most entertaining game included
several apples that were suspended by string.Each pair of kids had to face one another with the apple between them,
and eat their apple without using their hands.Of course as soon they tried to bite the apples they were swinging
around, but eventually one pair of boys managed to win the game.The youngest pair gave up, and we laughed as
the little girl partner grabbed the apple and ate it while the rest of the kids
continued the competition.We were sorry
that we had not brought our camera, and thus we cannot show you photos of these
games.

Because of Derek’s party on Christmas Eve we decided to hold
our party the night of the 23rd.Like last year, we made up bags of candies and pesos to give to the
children.Ron had a “Christmas Tree” at
his house this year, not our traditional pine but a small potted balete tree strung
with lights.We had told the kids to
come at 5:30 so that we could eat a quick meal first, but there must have been
a lot of anticipation because most were there by 4:45 and all by 5:00.That was okay with us – we were glad that
they were so eagerly looking forward to the party.

We had some dance contests and other activities, and then we
passed out the bags of candy.As we have
said before, it’s amazing how many great smiles you can get here for so
relatively little money compared to in the States.It was a bit chilly that evening, and if you
look closely you will see that Steve is dressed “Minnesota style,” meaning that
he had on long sleeves (often hooded sweatshirts back home) and shorts.

We have included a number of photos from the party and hope
that you enjoy them.

On Christmas day we had our traditional spit-turned roasted
chicken at Ron’s house.We hope you all
enjoyed your Christmas celebrations as much as we did.

Then earlier this week we spent some time hiking around
Corregidor with an American family, Vaughan and Aleda, and their youngest
daughter Sonya, who have lived in Metro-Manila for about 18 years.They were particularly interested in hiking all
the way along the “Tail,” something we had not done for a couple of years. We took our helper Gilbert along to clear the
trails, which was a good thing, since the old trail had ceased to exist.We are sure that we varied from the old trail
from time to time, simply trying to find any route through the jungle.

At one point, Gilbert suddenly stopped, crouched down, and
signaled for us to also stop and quietly move back along the trail.He had worked his way under a large swarm of
honey bees before he heard them, and he was afraid they might feel threatened
and attack.(The swarm was close to two
feet high and almost that wide.)Gilbert
slowly worked his way back; the bees remaining calm and focused on their own
business.We were able to get a picture.We then bypassed
that area and continued hiking toward the tip of the Tail.

Friday, December 14, 2012

The annual all-island Christmas party was held on
12/12/12.It was lots of fun, with many wonderful
Filipino foods to eat, including a whole roasted pig, several very brief casual
and inspirational speeches, entertainment and games, and dancing for all well
into the night.We’ve included some
choice photos that were taken by our helper, Gilbert, who worked for a number
of years as a professional photographer.We hope you enjoy them!

Last December a supposedly once-in-every-12-years (their statistically
‘normal’ weather pattern) tropical storm hit Mindanao.This December a much stronger storm, reaching
well into typhoon strength and called a “Howler” on the news, also hit
Mindanao, and, tragically, again hundreds of Filipinos died.We know several of you were concerned about our
safety.Our area of the Philippines was not
affected adversely.Mindanao is several
hundred miles south of us, and the storm had no effect on Corregidor or Manila
other than bringing us about an hour of heavy rainfall around noon last Sunday
– shortly after Marcia had filled our clotheslines with clean laundry, for a
“Mother Nature” laugh, and while we were having lunch at MacArthur’s Cafe.Most of the lines are beneath the roof
extension, but we did have a couple re-rinsed towels and rugs.By about 2 P.M. the sun was again shining.

We’ve had a number of responses to our most recent
newsletters.Here are a few we hope you
find interesting.

Steve,

Thanks for another
interesting newsletter. Having grown up in Jackson I’m very familiar with
New Tribes Mission, as I’d worked with and come to know a number of students
through the years and often drove past their building when I worked downtown.
Because the Burnhams were from New Tribes the kidnapping was big news in the
Jackson area at the time. It was similar to one of those stories we’d see on
the news occasionally but paid no attention to because it seemed so far away,
so distant. But this time the victims were from the Bible mission in our own
home town and it became all too real.

I succinctly remember
the coverage of the kidnapping when it occurred. After a period of time,
however, the story was forgotten by most of us until a year later when we
learned of the attempted rescue and death of Mr. Burnham. That’s when it really
hit home. I had no idea Mrs. Burnham had written a book about her experience,
but I intend to purchase it. Perhaps it can sit on the bookshelf right next to
yours?

Hope you had a wonderful
Thanksgiving. Take care,

Kerry (a co-worker of Steve’s some years ago)

Hi Marcia & Steve,

I agree with US Ambassador
Harry Thomas that Steve’s book HONOR, COURAGE, FAITH: A Corregidor Story was a “labor of love” considering the
extensive research involved and the very informative details in it especially
that of the enemies’ (Japanese soldiers) atrocities during the war.

All the best always, eli

Marcia,
Thanks for another (as usual) interesting update. I've added the (weather station) link to my Internet bookmarks and will be
checking the Corregidor weather sometimes. Sorry your Internet access is so
bad, but I bet it gets you outdoors more often! Heh he
Chris

Is Steve the tallest person
in the Philippines? I love all the pictures he is in - I have no trouble
finding him.

Take care!

Jake

He’s probably not the tallest, but stands taller than the
tallest native Filipino we have met, by several inches.

Steve and Marcia

If you go to Manila again, and happen to stay at the
Adriatico, you could please leave them a copy of your book--and please
autograph it for me! I will treasure it. Especially so since I am growing more
and more convinced that I gave water to your dad and a couple of his much
shorter cohorts as they lay on the grass by our back lawn--the one facing the
Bay. He leaned up on his elbows and said, "Thanks, buddy."

banzai,

Peter

Peter refers to an incident
that occurred on May 24, 1942.At that
time, the Japanese were marching the Corregidor prisoners of war along Dewey
(now Roxas) Boulevard.As we remember
the story, Peter, who grew up in the Philippines and was living with his family
in Manila at that time, offered water to three American POWs who were having a
very difficult time in the dreadful heat.He believes that the Japanese permitted his actions only because he was
a small child.Apparently those three POWs
were allowed to rest for a short time.Peter managed to give each of them a drink of water.Only one, a “VERY tall man,” thanked
Peter.Since learning that Steve’s
father Walter, at 6’6”, was among the tallest men – if not the tallest one – on
Corregidor, and that Walter was a kind and well-mannered man, Peter has reached
the above conclusion.Walter has been
gone from us many years now, so we can’t ask him.We are thankful that Peter and others were
able to give some aid to those POWs at a very difficult time in their lives.We will gladly leave a book for you at
Adriatico next time we are there, Peter.

Hello Steve and
Marcia,

It was such a pleasure
to meet you a couple of weeks ago in Corregidor, and I hope to meet you again
someday. I know I promised to contact you once I get to Manila so I apologize,
but I hope this e-mail is better late than never.

We have not been able to see Camille’s article yet due to
our internet limitations on the island, but thoroughly enjoyed chatting with
her over lunch after the weather station launch.We’re excited to look for it on our next trip
to Manila.Readers, check it out if you
wish, and let us know what you think.

Our most heart-felt wishes to each of you for a truly Merry
Christmas!

About Me

We retired in our mid-50's and moved to Corregidor, a WWII battlesite in the Philippines. Steve's father Walter fought and was captured there by the Japanese, but survived the war. Steve wrote a book about his father, "HONOR, COURAGE, FAITH: A Corregidor Story," which is available in paperback in the Philippines, and on Amazon Kindle worldwide.
Steve and Marcia loved to entertain guests on Corregidor and take them to out-of-the-way places on the island. They also host tours for Valor Tours, LTD of San Francisco.